This invention relates to medical appliances and more particularly to a manifold assembly for controlling flow of fluid and providing for monitoring of hemodynamic pressures.
Manifold assemblies have been provided in the past for medical applications and when not available many arrangements for manifolds have been quickly assembled from various available parts for particular applications. The assembling of manifolds is undesirable as many connections need to be made and time is required for assembly. Some preformed manifolds have been provided such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,477,469 and 4,177,835. The manifolds described in each of these patents merely are arrangements of three-way stopcocks which in the former is made of stainless steel, while in the latter is constructed of plastic.
Stopcock manifolds, typically consisting of three or five, three-way stopcock valves in series, have been used for continuous and intermittent monitoring of multiple invasive hemodynamic pressure lines in hospital intensive care units and coronary care units. Such manifolds have also been used in operating rooms and cardiac catheterization labs.
Manifolds have served a multitude of functions in a centralized fluid path valving network as the control center for hemodynamic monitoring systems.
In spite of major advantages to overall system control and function for multiple hemodynamic pressure lines and attendant patient handling, the use of stopcock manifolds has not been well received in many areas such as intensive care units and coronary care units. The poor reception for such stopcock manifolds has been due to high staff turnover, complex training requirements, confusion in the use of stopcocks in series and manifold connection setups, sterility concerns and assembly time.
It would be desirable to have a manifold designed to provide a convenient and simple device to replace the presently used stopcock manifolds which have many connecting arrangements and use and which are confusing to nurses and technicians not trained in each particular setup for the stopcock manifolds. It would also be desirable to have a manifold design which could reduce assembly time, reduce the potential for contamination and enhance user interpretation of the status of the cardiac pressure monitoring system.